The Sun. — London, England, 1838-11-05 00:00:00

BLACKWOOD ON THE CORN LAWS. W AGES --CULTIVATION. After having read the laboured article in Blackwood in 'indication of the Corn-laws, we feel disposed to leave the 'majority o f i ts fallacies to the victorious arm of Colonel T o mpson, by wh om, i n d ue season, we have no doubt they l be annihilated. We propose for ourselves only to say 'the4 so mething o n th e e ff ects of repealing the Corn-laws on Wages of l a b our, an d on the stimulus which those laws with ltia!mach earnestness b oth by Blackwood, and by the jority of the defenders of those laws. All these writers seem to adopt Mr. Ricardo's definition of the wages of labour, and from that to conclude that the condition of the labourer never can be permanently im proved. " The natural price of labour," says that gentle "is that price which is necessary to enable the la _ urers, one with another, to subsist, and to perpetuate their race, without either increase or diminution.' Coup nng that with Mr. Malthus's doctrine of population, it is att once concluded that the condition of the labourer is one of hopeless poverty and destitution ; and that whatever alterations may be made in the Corn-laws, or other la ws affecting trade and subsistence, the power In the capitalists and of the landlords, on one nand, and the competition of the labourers under the influence of the principle of population on the other, will always keep the labourer at that point at which he can bar ely subsist. We cannot agree in Mr. Ricardo's defi- Iliti en, and reject the one-sided, partial, and hopeless view of the principle of population taken by Mr. Malthus. We ha ve better hopes for the human race than Mr. Malthus, and clai m for the labourer a much higher reward than is assigned to him by Mr. Ricardo. But whatever theory we ma y adopt, the general principle is certain—that man is better taught by example than precept—that the labourer n cen sequently i s more lik e l y to have a strong desire perma ebendy to better his condition, by tasting the advantage of niporary i mprovements, than by never raising himself from e lowest condition. It is in fact generally admitted and Renerally s t ate d that the labourers always struggle against ln king ; that w h en wages b eg i n to fall, they will increase :ith eir exertions, if possible, to obtain their accustomed com forts and enjoyments ; and if not able to overcome degrada ti°n, they at least resist it to the utmost of their power. tv ery person who has examined the condition of the Irish Peasantry, accustomed to one dead level of destitution, and compared it to the varying condition of the English Peasantry, is, we believe, thoroughly convinced that ther e is more reason to hope for the permanent improvement of the latter than of the former. Thus, we conclude, that one of the surest means to effect a per manent improvement in the condition of any body of La bourers, is to let them taste, for ever so short a period, Whenever possible, the advantages of higher wages and greater prosperity. Now, we find Blackwood, who labours at great length to pro ve "that the abolition of the Corn-laws would deterio rate the condition of the labourer," conceding " that the abo lition of the Corn-laws would occasion a ' considerable fall in the price o f gra i n, because it would bring into competi tion with the B r i t i s h farmer an extensive class of producers, who raise their farm produce on richer soils, under finer climates, or with cheaper laboiir." He also states " that the co-existence of reduced prices and an overflowing supply may ensue, and often does ensue, for a tim e , " but such a state of thi ngs never has been and 'never an be lasting." He admits, therefore, that the abolition of the Corn-laws Would give us reduced prices, and an overflowing supply for s eason- He does not limit the time during which the blessi ng may l ast, but he seems to think ten years would ee i t at an end. It is then only to be destroyed, with cer tainty' by the "great impulse given to population, and con seqnent multiplication of labourers under the influence of stndiminished money wages, and augmented ease of cir and an i durale fall in the rice o IF ° ti of necessaries of life "r He, d therefor b p e, admits that the abo f the Corn-laws would for a while raise the real Z a ges of labour, and also admits that they would o n ly b e „ e „ 1) , t down wi t h certainty by the great impulse given t o po r,`"ation. He admits, therefore, that the consequence of Ine Corn -laws is to keep the number of labourers from aug menting, and as t h e augmen t at i on o f th e i r num b ers i s t h e ea t sign of th e i r prosper i ty , as th e c h ec ki ng o f p opu l at i on Corr "laws infli c t on the labourers some of the most v grievo us social ev il s . H e a l so admits that e ase 1, -* $ c ircumsta nces wou ld f or a t i me b e th e l a b ourer ' s ""/ and we should like to know what better means I pan b e f ound to make that ease of circumstances permanent T' to be s t ow i t f or a season on t h e l a b ourers b y t h e abo °N " 4 ," of the C orn -l aws ?If i t were t o l as t t en y ears , or aY five years, or only two years, they and the commu pwould not be worse o ff a t the end than at p resen t ; ‘ , d let us, th ere f ore, h ave t h e two, or the five, or the tea J e 'll's blessing of increasing population, low prices, and iterliowing supplies, though at the end - of that time the la -1)111.er should not have acquired a taste for better things, nod they should be again landed in their present hopeless state of penury and privation. Th e gloomy picture which Blackwood draws of land going out o f cu l t i vat i on, from a fall in price, is a trick of his own fancy. There would not be an acre sowed the less this year. At present the landlords, because the prices are high, are to make no abatements in rent, end next year they are to increase it. But if the Gam laws were abolished, and prices were to fall—though it is very doubtful if they would now fall much, such is the general scarcity of corn—the landlords, next Mi ohael was aye, and the tithe-lords too, would make an a b atement ; an d t h e year a f ter they uld lower their rents, and tithes must be lowered. thLandlords and tithe-lords would see that between i s and g e tti ng no rent at a ll an d no t i t h es, t h ere would be al ternative, and rather than drive the farmer to despair, t i n e d allow their land to go ou t o f cu l t i vat i on , th ey wou ld Thecontent with what he could afford to give them. bnfarmer would not sacrifice his capital ; he would hold e an d strug g l e on , an d very l ik ely—for such has generally case—h e wou ld en d eavour, b y en exten d e d culti dutln the .n, to compensate by an increased quantity for the re ar ti°ll of price. Th at l an d w hi c h h as b y t h e l a b our o f heats be en made fertile, will all at once be given up to tTlztatb hor brambles and thorns, is one of the idlest chimeras uei t te brain ever c o i ne d. Th e f arm ers would i mme di- Lfind .a considerable reduction in wages—and they pay Pro p or tion more wages than any other capitalist for they av -" l nparatively f ew mac hi nes —th e y wou ld fi n d a reduc of In the price of seed-corn, of stock, of rates, of the price thstbey er yttiox they h ave to b uy , i nc l u di ng a ll ' th e i r teat l ag ; and these reductions, with the reduction of l and and tithes, would enable them to cultivate the falli o with more success tha n ever . Th ere w ould be no li e li g off, we belie ve i n th e cu l t i vat i on, b ut t h ere wou ld tor th g r eat incr ease in tie supply of food. The funds e maintenance of labour would be greatly augmented, re a l the l a t. w ages of lab our i ncrease d , an d the condition of litov' impulse ° os t u e er much i mprove d , t ill suc h t i me, at least, as the !la to e timer given t o popu l at i on b rought the number of labourers supply of food, and till th en soc i e t y wou ld en all th the Showing of Blackwood, all the advantages and d eni e d e f as e of an imp rov i ng con di t i on , Wh y i s th i s b enef i t and the °l' ever so sho r t a p er i o d? B ecause t h e l andlords Are s , t ithe -lord s would lose a considerable portion of their Wa a l"; revenue. That is raised by a tax on bread, which eriticaine abolished. Few as they are in numbers, hypo little 0 .4 Pretences, unjust and cruel in conduct, and of eon • or no use to society, their losses are not worthy of ev-eNeer lion,a and society would suffer nothing, even if the ind u - st u e 3 of both these classes of idle, useless, despoilers of le o° , were annihilated. We agree on one point with Black -1) a o ' ti, y h at the subject is involved in obscurity—as what can ig a u e. wise which branches so far into futurity ? But that allo ol t d ta why the Legislature, which cannot fathom it, sist e ,„ u n right, and trust in God, instead of ordaining a, N'" of plunder, and defying Him -144°! to say a few words - on the stimulus which the Corn rai':ve to cultiv a ti on . Wh at are t h ose laws ? A plan Whi c h the pri ce o f corn b y li m i t i ng the supply to that ot is 5..13 grown in ou r own d om i n i ons. T hat rise of price, k, to, " . l ) Posed, i n d uces t h e farmers to grow more corn than 4 0,1 t h_ s e. But th e ma j or i ty o f f armers hire their land, ofll ah: co mpetition am ongs t th em an d other capitalists p rofit Prevent them getting more `wan the average rate Ink y he '''. As long as their leases last such a rise in price !hei r advantageous to those who hire land, but the instant bold „eta-B,e. are out, and year by year, where the tenants t alen t t"11.1, the rent of the lag;' will be raised fully equi od all t ( l :_ue rise in the rim, of corn caused by the law, w ut i tt t o oui:iadvantage of ;:nat will go, not to the cultivator, th e i: o n l °w nera It is only, therefore, in those cases ;'allent "..oer also cultivates his own land that any iq r a l tile s • -vantage can be gained by the farmers, or any th° droo given by the Corn-lan•s to extend cultivation. rent for one moment, we believe, that to augment of lie m onthor the out of the year, or of the Duke of Devon "r all the rest of the great Nobility, who more loa ". all at . go frequently out of the kingdom, can give the ' c 'en ue irn alus to cultivation? The same amount of land i sb a : sa ne of them receives, if divided amongst a thou of,, it to buy home-grown food, while he devotes a large part nook s, foreig n wines, and foreign pictures, and foreign w `;( 1 , Pay foreigners for their music and their singing,.. to &c., w 0 encourage cultivation much more than giving it fr om „' Every sixpence, therefore, which is abstracted and fund s for the ament of labour by the bread tax, ,„_ h increases the rent of the landlords, lessens the ent. ' us , U rOd , cultivation, by decreasing the demand for tutainfd increasing the demand for foreign luxuries. t ent j od it be supposed that to increase the landlord's de rabi aces him to improve agriculture, there are a consi else ;J nu mber of l an d owners who never think of any th i ng ig. t e g e ung air mach as - thoy can for their lamb j !li t ' ' l 4 .;/ P e , 11C fS'' t 11 t. '; t l ' e e ' 1 ,c l ' for e f ° aP ,811 11 ' ire' t er De' ' ~bA 'CC' THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1838. The Crown, the Bishops, all the Colleges, the Lon cbn Companies, with sundry other Corporations, are landowners ; and they can no more attend to cul tivation, and improve it, .than to making shoes. To give all these parties a large income from the land, whether they do any thing for it or not, is the last method rational men would embrace to stimulate cultivation. But that is precisely what the Corn-laws do. They give to the landowners a large income, whether they cultivate the land or not, and thus actually weaken, if not destroy, all na tural motives in the landlords to improve their estates. To bar out competition is an acknowledged means to encour age idleness and sloth—to make reward proportionate to negligence is sure to discourage enterprise and care, and both effects are the result of the Corn-laws. Let us appeal to experience. It is now 23 years since the Corn-laws have been in existence. In that time, what progress has cultivation made ? What improvements have been made in agriculture ? What have the farmers gained ? These are important questions, worthy of calm and serious consideration. Let us first remark, that during the whole period the nation has been at peace ; and that it has been unanswerably proved, that the spring of population which is the spring of national prosperity, and is empha tically the source of a continually increasing demand, for the products of agriculture is of such vast power, that it is only kept clown and kept in check by gaunt famine. Prosperity, grertt and ever-growing prosperity, is the na tural condition of every peaceful and industrious society; and what his been, during these twenty-three years, the condi tion of our agriculture ? Since 1815, the population of Great Britain has in creased about five millions. In 1811, it was 11,966,364 ; and, calculating by the ratio in which it increased to 1821, it was in 1815 about 12,800,000. In 1831, it was 16,255,000, andcalculating by the ratio of increase between 1821 and 1831, it is now probably about 18,000,000, unless indeed, which seems probable, the ratio of increase, which diminished between 1821 and 1831, has diminished still more since 1831. What has been, in the same period, the increase of cultivation ? Mr. Ellman, who is an authority on this subject, a practical agriculturist, and a decided ad vocate of the Corn-laws, has told us within this month, in a letter addressed to a Weekly Journal, that it has not in creased at all. Here are his memorable, and for the Corn laws, damning words in speaking of some observations of Mr. Jacobs :—" This, it must be remembered, was written in 1814, since which our population has increased many millions, without any corresponding increase in cultivation. Indeed, taking England and Wales only, I doubt, f more wheat is grown now than at that period. Scotland and Ireland produce more wheat, but not more than sufficient to meet our increasing population." Though our popula tion has increased five millions, and the population of England and Wales alone more than four, who, of themselves, constitute a prodigious stimulus to cultivation, yet has cultivation under the " cold shade" of the Corn-laws failed to increase. We may safely assert that this state ment is borne out by the reports of all the Committees which have sat to inquire into the distressed state of agri culture since 1815, not one of which but has received evi dence that land has gone out of cultivation. But if this be so, how has the increased mass been fed ? First, it is worse fed than in 1814. Potatoes have supplied in many cases the place of wheat. The condition of the population has been deteriorated, and whole classes, like the hand loom weavers, starved out of existence. Second, a change has been made in the diet of the people. Tea, coffee, and sugar have been substituted for the products of the soil. The consumption of malt has been stationary. Rice has been eaten instead of wheaten flour. Oranges and the dried fruits of southern climates have come much into use, and form a part of the food of the people. Third, all sorts of shifts are fallen on, and all the :hips and steamers which can victual their men abroad do, and those which pass backwards and forwards between the Con tinent and England not only purchase all their provisions, now no inconsiderable quantity, abroad, but manage to smuggle some in for the use of the wives and children and friends of the crews. Looking at all these sources of decreased comparative consumption of home grown wheat, we readily adopt Mr. Ellman's conclusion, that notwithstanding the population has increased five mil lions since the Corn-laws were passed, there has been no increase of cultivation. The lamentable and fatal consequence is, that we do not now grow corn enough for our consumption, and every few years we are obliged to import some, which circumstance, as England forms no regular market for foreign corn, and the grower is consequently not dependent on her, makes her more painfully dependent, more beggarly and slavishly dependent on the one or two countries which may have corn to spare when we want it, than we could possibly be if—by wheat being grown for our market—the growers were reciprocally dependent on us. If we are to have a war with Russia, we hope it will not be declared till after our merchants have swept all the granaries of Odessa ; for at present our prospects are such that if the Emperor of Russia were now to forbid the exportation of grain from 'his dominions, nothing but some wonderfully productive harvest next year could save our people from famine. But Mr. Ellman says that cultivation has increased in Ireland and Scotland. If it have it is compatible in Ire land with a most dreadful degree of deprivation. Thou sands of the people there live exclusively on the worst kind of potatoes, and dwell in caves. In Scotland, too, a writer in Tait's Magazine declares, that wages have not kept pace with rise of the price of corn, and the condition of the labourers must there also be deteriorated. According to Mr. Cobbett's description of them, they seem wore off than the English labourers. It is, therefore, quite cer tain, that under the Corn-laws the increase of cultivation has not been commensurate with the increase of population. Nothing being grown expressly for our people abroad, it is plain that more of them have been called into existence than provision has been made for ; and it is, therefore, cer tain that insufficient food, or actstLl famine, must every year carry great multitudes to the grave. Since 1815, what immense improvements have been made in the unprotected manufacture of steam engines and cotton cloth. Has any such improvement been made in agriculture ? We know of none. Some triflingly better methods of cultivation have been extended, rather than brought into use—bone manure has been employed —some attempts have been made to invent a steam-plough —some success has been met with in cultivating moors and bogs— but how trifling are these, compared to the magnificent in ventions, amongst a hundred others, of gas lights and steam-ships. It is io be remarked, also, that where agriculture has been most improved since 1831, as in Scotland, it has been more the consequence of improved modes of communica tion than of the Corn-laws. Those laws have produced little or no improvement in Kent and Sussex, while, where the railroad has reached, and the steam-boat has plyed, the plough has been active, the agriculturist has been en terprising, and the land has been improved. But another testimony may be found against the Corn laws, so far as the non-cultivation of the country is con cerned, in the population returns. It is remarked by Mr. Rickman, in his abstract of the population returns for 1831, " that the rate of the increase of the populationtof Great Britain has not varied much during the last thirty years, even when the increase or diminution of the Army, Navy, &c., is then taken into the calculation?" Accordingly, we find, that the rate of increase was from 1801 to 1811, fourteen and three-eighths per cent. ; from 1811 to 1821, seventeen and one-half per cent. ; and -from 1821 to 1831, fifteen and one-half per cent. But dur ing almost the whole of the first period, the country was at war, for the short and uneasy peace of Amiens did not restore the commercial relations of the world. During the last period our country has been wholly at peace, and has been distinguished for the invention or improvement of an immense variety of useful machines. Steam naviga tion and railroads have both come into use. Spinning mules have been much improved, and the arts of bleaching linens and cottons, and of preparing cloths, have undergone great changes. An immense mass of mechanical power has been created. The unmolested sea has encouraged our population to proceed in shoals to many of our colo nies ; and all such emigrations, as long as the commercial connection with the mother country be preserved, increase the home population. But with all these advantages, population did not increase at so quick a rate between 1821 and 1831 as between 1811 and 1821. Thus our population is actually increasing at a slower rate during peace than during war—for we bad war part of the time between 1811 and 1821—and that, too, while the com munity has increased wonderfully in ingenuity and skill, and in all the wealth-creating arts except agriculture. The diminished ratio of increase seems to prevail only in the agricultural districts—as the following table of eight coun ties, four being chiefly manufacturing, and four being chiefly agricultural, will shew : INCREASE PER CENT. OF POPULATION. MANUFACTURING COUNTIES. AGRICULTURAL COUNTIES. 18.11 1811 1821 1801 1811 1821 to to to to to to 1811 1821 1831 1811 1821 1831 Lancaster—Cotton 23 27 27 Devon lO 18►14 15% W. R. 1 ork—Wool 16 22 22 Suffolk II 15 9 Warwick—lron..... 10 20 23 Cambridge l3 21 18 Statibrd—Potteries 21 18 20 Buckingham 9 14 t► Durham—Coal ll 17 22 York, N.R 7 n 2 Mr. Marshall gives as the totals of ten manufacturing counties in the three periods, 181, 201, 221 ; of eighteen agricultural counties, 9k, 151, 10 2-3. Of course increased cultivation cannot be carried on without an increase of hands. In these four agricultural counties the town population has increased, we believe, more than the rural population, and hence it is palpable that the increase of our agricultural population, has not kept pace with that of the manufacturing population, though the Corn laws were intended to check the growth of the latter, and increase the former. , The check to our popu lation is taking place in our agricultural districts, and hence the complaints of the misery of their population with which the country has been inundated since 1820. We tuke leave to say that such dupes of fats are mu* more instructive than the tables which Blackwood has borrowed from Mr. Porter of the relative importance of agri culture and commerce. Both are so mutually dependent that one cannot thrive but the other will grow too ; and if Blackwood had wished to make the comparison particu larly striking, he should have referred back three or four hundred years ago, when only agricultural wealth was known in the land. The fact is, that commercial and manufacturing wealth are now increasing more rapidly than agricultural wealth, notwithstanding the bounty given to the latter by the Corn-laws; and though they have not, in point of amount, overtaken it, they promise fair to do so if left at liberty, adding to the 246 millions produce of agri culture 260 millions produced by commerce and manufac tures.* The general fact that our population has not increased so rapidly since 1821 as before, is calculated to excite some apprehensions for the empire. We cannot believe that the ratio has improved since 1831. Other countries, such as Prussia and France, are rapidly increasing in numbers, and if our manufacturing population, as seems now likely to be the case in consequence of the Corn-laws, should come almost to a stand still, the agricultural popu lation will decline, and Great Britain will see other coun tries go fast ahead of her. Such a result is not surprising, for since the nominal peace our country has been exposed to all the privations of war, wanting all its glories. Im mediately the war of arms ceased, the landlords began their war against our commerce. The aristocracy was bent on keeping down the peopled- and they substituted the slow process of starvation for the more brilliant scheme of military slaughter. The Corn-laws revived or continued in their bad spirit and their ferocity the celebrated Milan and Berlin Decrees, which were aimed, like the Corn laws, against our commerce. But the latter are much more efficacious than the spite of Bonaparte, for obedience to our own Legislature has tied our hands, and made the nation its unresisting victim. The gulled and deluded people, who spent their treasure and their blood to strike down that lordly foreign Eagle, have since then had their bones picked bare by our own home-bred carrion crows. 'We shall consider at some length the gain of the farmers in another article. In the excellent lectures lately delivered at Manchester by Mr. Paulton, he observed, " The circumstances of your position compel you, by natural causes to sell your surplus goods in a foreign market ; but the landowner, by his Corn and Canada Timber-laws, prevents you from buying in those markets. The consequence is, that in reality the landowner is both importer and exporter. He not orly forces the manu facturer to take his half measure of corn and pay a double price for it, but he knows at the same time that the manufac turer can import nothing but luxuries, which the rich alone want, and these luxuries, when imported, the manufacturer is obliged to sell again for half their value to the landowner. Was there ever such a refined scheme of systematic injustice ?" In considering, therefore, the relative value of the produce of agricultural and manufacturing labour the increased price given to ail the products of agriculture, and the decreased price of all the products of manufactures, must be taken into ac count. If we suppose this afourth,:the 246,600,0001., which Blackwood says is the value of our agricultural produce, must be reduced to 185,000,0001., and the products of the manu factures increased in the same proportion will also be 185,000,0001. But we place little confidence in these state ments, for we find nothing set down under either head for mi nerals, which belong rather to manufactures than agriculture. fi Lest the statement in the text should appear harsh or ex aggerated, we must remind the reader that the manner in which the upper classes, particularly the squires and the clergy, have interfered with the amusements and employments of the people, the readiness which they hare always shown to have them sabred if they stood in their way, the contempt and scorn which they and their writers express for the people, never re. garding them of half as much importance as hares and part ridges, and the brutal manner in which they have always en deavoured to terrify them into submission, warrants the as sertion that they are the enemies of the people, and intended by the . starvation-laws to keep them in poverty and de gradation. CORN-LAW FALLACIES, WITH THE ANSWERS. (Continued from The Sun of Wednesday.) _ • 193. —To all practical purposes, therefore, the continuance of tho Corn-laws has b e cn, s i nce the passing of the Reform Bill, a matter of, no importance whatever ;—Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 277, for November 1838. Art. The Corn Laws. ANSWER.—It would be just as correct to say, that if a man had had a sentry over him since the passing of the Reform Bill, the practical consequences only began when the sentry fired on him in 1838. There is a keeping back of all that might have been done in the interval, had the sentry not been there. 194. —the produce of the British islands during that period having been fully equal for the maintenance of its numerous inhabitants,—ld. A.—lt maintained those that survived ; that's all. But how many were ground down in Poor-houses, and died in holes and corner elsewhere, through the inability to keep themselves which was created by artificial means, is never told. 195. and the prices so low, that, keeping i n view the certain advance that would have taken place in the markets of the Baltic if the British ports had been entirely thrown open, hardly any importation whatever would have taken place from the continental states into this country. _ld . A.—" Do not go where things are cheaper ; for if you do, they will rise." Not a boy that leads a pedlar's ass, will be moved by such an argument. 196.--And the experience of these years further demon strates the gratifying fact, that, without the assistance of any foreign nations whatever, the farmers of the United Ki ngdom are able to provide am pl e f oo d f or th e maintenance of its own inhabitants, and in such abundance, as to have rendered the average price of grain for the five years preceding 1838 about 48s. a quarter only, being a lower rate than the average of any five preceding years since the time of Charles A.—They are able to provide the food, exception made of the times w h en th ey are not . A n d w h en those times come, the people ar e t o b e groun d d own b y f am i ne prices, till their numbers are r e d uce d to w h a t can go on again up on the landlords' allowance. A little boy is allowed a peck of bran a-day to feed his rabbits. " Mamma," says the little boy, "my rabbits live upon their peck of bran, and have such nice young ones!" The secret being all the while, that every time they have more than can be kept upon the peck of bran, they are starved off. 197.—8ut still the question of the C orn -l aws h as been everywhere mooted, and in many places mad e th e subject of fierce invective against the Constitutional party ; and i t can not be doubted, that in the next session of Parliament the force of the Revolutionists will be in a great degree concen trated on the attack of that branch of our institutions......./d. A.—What joy to the Revolutionists, to hear the Corn laws called a branch of our institutions! "We know now what our institutions me made of." Such must inevitably be the cry passed along their ranks. 193.—the Radicals now openly clamour for the objects which we all along maintained they alone had at heart during the Reform mania; they publicly admit that not participation in, but exclusive possession of, supreme power, is the object of their desire, and that unless they immediately get Annual Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, Vote by Ballot, and, the Repeal of tha Corn-laws, all that they have hitherto ob tained is a mere mockery, and an aggravation of their suffer ings.—ld. A.--They publicly admit no such thing ; they maintain that when they have got all they ask, they shall have little enough to protect themselves. They are perfectly aware that " Wealth. is power ;" and that if the poor are disposed to press the matter to niceties, they must have have an overslaugh for that. But on nne point, the " children of this world" show most wit. Had the Radicals joined the Corn-laws to their other objects, as their enemies do, they would probably have broken into the fortress by its weak place. Their enemies confess it, when they are brought so low as to be seech the Radicals to reflect on the discredit they would bring on Reform, if they removed the Corn-laws. 199. —The argument which is constantly maintained against the Corn-laws, is shortly as follows. Wheat, it is said, can be raised in Poland at from twenty. one to twenty-five shillings a quarter, and it may be laid down at any time at any harbour in Great Britain at from twenty five to thirty shillings. If, then, the harbours were permanently opened we should obtain provisions at little more than half the price which we at present pay for them. The advantages of such a change would be incalculable ; every poor man would find himself suddenly in possession of double bis income. The large surplus which would remain at the disposal of all classes, after providing for, their necessary wants, would immensely increase their general comfort, and proportionally augment the quantity o f t h e l uxur i es an d conven i ences o f life they would be enabled t o purc h ase . — ld . But A.--If this means th a t ever yb o dy is to go on for ever more, bein g t w i ce as r i c h as he was,— i t i s an enemy's re presentation . hours'B ,t fool and as s o t h e e treated s e ;the accordingly. working classesN ob o d Nobody know has better been such a work wb i what they nste ad e want is sixteen,isto habeythbeeieg day's allowedfood for t o get it whe re th ey m i ght. twelve 200.—The home market for our manufacturers would thus i ncrease with th e prosper i ty of all the industrious c l asses . The , , foreign vent f or our manufacturing industry wou ld be equally extended by t h e vast impulse which would be given to foreign agricultur e by the increased demand for its productions in this country, and the increased wealth which our extensive pur chases of their produce would diffuse through foreign states.—/d. A.—An enemy's statement, purposely made roundabout. The simple demand is, that the manufacturers shall be al lowed to deal where they can get three bushels of corn for a yard of cloth, instead of where they can only get two. 201.—is it, then, really certain that an unrestricted im portation of foreign grain would, in the long run, lower the money price of provisions to the British labourers? • We aPt prehend it is extremely doubtful whether it would have this effect after the lapse of a certain number of years.-11. A.—lf a thousand years hence, the world should be found filled up, we shall be brought to the point where we are now, and the English growers of dear corn may go on again. The invitation held out to the labourers, therefore, is, " Do not have cheap food now, lest at some unknown time or other it should be as dear as ever." 202.—Nay, we have little doubt that the result in the end would be that the price of subsistence would be raised to the British consumer.—ld. A.—lt cannot ; because if the price ever reached the present height, the English corn-growing would go on as before. 203.—Would the price of grain, at the end of five or seven years, remain at the low standard to which it had been reduced by the sudden influx of foreign competition ?—ld. A.—Who ever thought it would ? But it would rise only by the proportion, which the capability of an increased produce in all the world bears to the quantity wanted for Great Britain. As well ask walled-up Birmingham, whether she thinks corn would always remain at the low price it was the day she opened her gates. It would in crease in the proportion which the wants of Birmingham bear to the produce of the whole country from which they can be supplied. A precious reason to give the men of Birmingham for keeping fast their gates ! 204. —What, then, would be gained by such a change but an alteration in the class and the nation by whom our subsist ence W 23 to he furnished ? The home-growers would be de pressed as much as the foreign growers would be encouraged in their operations. —ld. A.—And the people of Birmingham would get the corn they wanted, instead of going without. Nobody was asking whether there was to be a balance between the gains and losses of home and foreign growers. They were ask ing why the people of Birmingham should be starved by keeping fast their gates. What care the people of Bir mingham, whether the losses of the growers of corn in flower-pots inside, and the gains of the cultivators outside, are equal or not ? 205. —The market would not in the end overflow ; it would only be competently supplied, and depend in part on foreign instead of domestic industry.--Id. A.—As well say that Birmingham would not in the end get more corn by opening her gates. The strategem is in diverting the attention from Birmingham's getting more corn, to whether the gains and losses of the producers in side the walls and out, are equal. 20G.—If Poland and Russia produce more for the British manufacturers, Great Britain and Ireland would produce less.—ld. A.—But would they produce as much less ? Beware :as Lord Stanley would say) of thimble-riggers. 2 07.—Farming, to the extent of perhaps three millions of quarters annually, would be destroyed in the British isles, and farming to a similar extent would be called into existence on the banks of the Vistula or the Dnieper. But there could not be any permanent increase of the supply over the de mand.—/d. A.—Could there be no permanent increase over the pre sent supply, is the question. Is not the fact staring us in the face, that the British manufacturers are to exchange a yard of cloth for more corn with the farmers on the Vistula or the Dnieper, than they could with the men calling them selves farmers at home ? And is not the simple reason why they can get more corn, that the corn is produced with half the labour ? 2438.—The fundamental error of the opponents of the Corn laws on this point is, that they suppose two things to continue which can never co-exist in the same country, or even in the same district of country, viz., permanently reduced prices, and a permanently overflowing supply.-Id. A.—As well plead for making wine in hothouses, and tell us there is no such thing as permanently reduced prices, and a permanently overflowing supply. There is a per manently increased supply, under the prices of the monopo lists with hothouses. 209.—The main ground of their [the manufacturers'] numerous and at present well-founded complaints against the British Government is, that they have neglected to stipulate for the advantage of importation at moderate duties with the other countries with whom we have concluded reciprocity treaties. Yet, strange to say, they do not see, or affect not to see, that a similar result must ensue from the unrestricted importation of foreign grain into the British harbours, and that the same necessity which would compel the one half of the iron-masters of France to blow out their furnaces if the hardware goods of Birmingham and Carron were admitted duty-free into the French harbours, must compel the British farmer to consign a large portion of his fields to the heath fowl and the plover, if Polish grain is admitted duty-free to the British harbours.—ld. A.—An attempt to shift the question. The question is —not what might come to paSs if we could make the French remove the duties on English manufactures—but by what right the farmer is to take an unjust and artificial portion of the land from the heath-fowl and the plover, at a double loss to the manufacturer and the community at large ; and why the manufacturer should not at least com pensate himself; by depressing the farmer in turn through a tax on home-grown corn, which is the point the manufac turers are now preparing to march upon. Th e agriculturists are robbed in France, through being prevented by their own government from obtaining British manufactures ; and that is given as a reason why the British manufacturers should be robbed by ours, through being prevented from obtaining foreign corn. Sup pose the British government were able at one sweep to remove all the foreign duties on British manufactures, that w'ould not move a step towards establishing the justice of cutting off the manufacturers from foreign corn. 210. —Eggs, poultry, and vegetables are brought to the Glasgow market, by the steam-boats from Ireland and the Highlands; but these articles arc just as dear in the Gl asgow market now as they were before steam-power wa s a ppli e d to the purposes of navigation. The small farmers o f Renfrew shire and Lanarkshire have been as much depressed by the change as tlioE , e of Ireland and Argyleshire have been benefited. —ld. an auld wife in Glasgow will b e li eve it. If t h e sm all farmers of Renfrewshire and L anar k s hi re d o not ' bring their eggs to market, why is it but because they can not bring them as cheap as those brought by the steam boats ? Out of the mouths of old women shall ye be judged. 2 11.—And it has been proved, in one memorable instance, running through a course of centuries, that a great people derive no permanent benefit in the form of a reduction of the prices of the necessaries of life, by a free importation of grain from distant states. By the extension of their power over all the nations adjoining the Mediterranean, as well as by the incessant clamours of the Roman populace for cheap bread, the Roman Government was early obliged to admit a free im portation of grain from Sicily, Lybia, and Egypt, the great granaries of mankind in ancient times. And what was the result ? Exactly what we contend would ensue from the appli cation of a similar principle to the British islands. The Italian cultivation was destroyed as much as the African or Egyptian was increased ; the price of grain underwent no diminution to the Roman populace, but was fully higher, on an average, than it has been in England for the last ten year s, while the small arable farms of ItalY, th e nursery Of the legions , w e re absorbed in g reat s weeps of pasture ; the race of independent cultivators was destroyed ; the strength of the vitals of the state was consumed ; and at length the inde pendence of the ce ntral p rovinces of th e empire was destroyed, - and the Mistress o f the World, as Gib bon has remarked, came - to depend for her subsistence upon the floods of the Nile. —ld. [Extracts from Blackwood s, to be concluded on Wednesday.] A.—We must not be run down by pedagogues. How do they know the price of grain underwent no diminution to the Roman populace ; when, if it had not, the Italian cultivation would have held up its head as much as ever ? What is the necessity for the wheat procured from Egypt and Lybia, being as much and no more than was cut off from Italian cultivation ; when the f►►ct perhaps was, that it was produced with half the labour ? And what has the price of grain in England to do with the matter ; the ques tion being only, whether the Romans got corn cheapest by buying it where it was cheap? What is proved by the " great sweeps of pasture," except that the Romans had bread, and beef to it ? If the " Mistress of the World" could not live on Italian corn, the inference is, that she was too big a " Mistress." She had her choice, be tween being the great Rome that ate the corn of half the world, and the little Rome that lived on the produce of the Patrician fields upon the Tiber. (TO ➢E CONTINUED.) THE OF NoVEMBER.—The rogues of boys we see have caught the spirit of the times, and have con. yerted Guy Faux into a Bishop. We passedlone this morning in the R^v. Mr. Mortimer's own parish, dressed up with a gilded mitre, ragged can o nicals, and a mask that h ad a stron g resemblance to Phillpotts. We did not hear exactly the canticle which had been made for the occasion, but it seemed to run in this strain : Please to remember the brawling Bishop, Him we'll show how to dish up, For he's the preacher of words of strife; Of bigot's zeal he sharpens the knife; Burro, boys i burn, burn, burn ; He who kindles hell-fires shall roast in turn. It is stated that several men are about to be em ployed in boring for coal at Weithill - commo n, about three miles from Kington ; if they succeed in discovering such a valuable acquisition to the country, they will most effectually astonish every " geologist" in the vicinity.—Hereford Paper. Shortly after two o'clock y esterday morning a fire brok e out i n the workshop of Mr. Carey, a cane chair-maker, in C hatham-gardens, Holton New Town, which did much damag e to that and the neighbouring house. The inmates with difficulty effected their escape. The Sovereign coach from this city to London again plies throughout the journey upon the turnpike road, in conse quence of the irregularity of the railroad conveyance occasion ing it frequently to be considerably behind its usual time of Worcester MONEY AND CITY NEWS. (FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.) TIM E S.—Considering the heavy•state of the Cotton mar- L ket here at the time, a good deal of surprise was excited by , the considerable speculations which commenced immediately after the late arrival of the Great Western from New York. It was speedily.made public, however, that prices had advanced in the United States just previous to the departure of the steamer, and that the markets were then in a very buoyant position. The manoeuvres were so nicely timed that all this bustle of buyers and sellers was contrived and con fined to the shortest period before the departure of the vessel, so that the scheming purchasers might run the less risk of loss, and the markets in England might be ope rate I upon thus on the cheapest t!rms. Another branch of this project appears to have been not only the despatch of flourishing advices about what was doing out there, but also the transmission of orders for pur chase and cotton speculations in Liverpool. The combination seems to have been perfectly understood and acted upon. People in Liverpool, known to be overloaded with stocks already, with a slackened demand in the manufacturing dis tricts, and prices receding, were seen apparently as eager to buy as if the old crop, before understood to lie so heavy a drug on hand, was exhausted, and the new crop, commonly reported to be so abundant and already making its appearance at the Southern ports of the United States, were actually ascertained to be a failure. Thus, taken by surprise, the plot is said to have succeeded to some extent with the dealers and spinners, who, duped by the flourishing accounts from America, and by the seeming animation of the market here, were induced to speculate in the expectation of a rise. It is understood that during this short-lived fever Mr. Biddle's agents managed to ship some large parcels of the cottons held on his account. The advices received by the three last sailing packets from New York, of several days' later dates than those by the Great Western, have served to expose the delusion and at the same time bring to light the real actors in this nefarious juggle. It may be repeated here, that the scheme was con cocted and the consequent transactions and rise in prices in the cotton market of New York, so close upon the sailing of the Great Western, that the purpose was effectually answered of preventing any untimely exposure by competent parties, since there was not time sufficient even to write a letter on the subject. The following extracts from corresrondeuce since received, taken from a Liverpool Paper, which guarantees the respectability of the quarters by whom communicated, show that the nature of the business was quickly penetrated on the other side of the water, and no time lost in a transmission of particulars here to place the unwary on their guard. (Per George Washington.) " NEW YORK, Oc•r. 8, 1838. —lt appears that we were right when we suspected the agents of the bank of an at tempt to raise the cotton market, merely to cause favourable reports to be sent out by the Great Western, with a view thereby to facilitate the sale of their cotton in Europe. The moment the steamer was gone they became indifferent about buying, and spinners, then the only buyers, felt reluctant to pay the advanced rates. The markets closed heavily on Saturday," (Per Wellington.) " OCT. 9.--Our preceding letter will have informed you of the manoeuvre on the part of individuals who are believed to be agents of the hank to cause a stir in the cotton market ; they were successful; the Grcat Western must have carried out favourable accounts, and it is probable these will have facilitated the sale of cotton in Europe. Whether the parties will follow up the game towards the departure of the Royal William, remains to be seen; we think it is not unlikely they will." ( Per United States.) • " OCTOBER 12.—We are curious to see whether the bank agents will cause another movement in the market prior to the sailing of the Royal William ; we expect they will, as they cannot expect to have sold a great deal of cotton between the arrival of the Great Western and the Royal William. Just now we are actually dull here. " Report says the Great Western has taken out many orders for the purchase of cotton in your markets, some say to the amount of many thousand bales on Philadelphia ac count ; if true, your good folks may be surprised to find those to be purchasers who should be sellers. Her arrival will no doubt cause a stir with you, and then there will be a reaction here, and, the see-saw once established, it may be long ere it subsides." The position of a concern which, like the bank of Mr. Bid dle, could lend itself to a course of scheeming so low and every way discreditabl e , wou ld a pp e a r to be anything but re spectable. The Manchester spinners will know how to be pre pared for a repetition of deceptions so gross in future. It has so far already operated unfavourably upon their interests as to have disco urage d b uyers f rom entering the yarn market, which at this season of the y ear th ose among t h em possess i n g th e requisite capital are gene ra lly i n t h e h a bi t o f d o i ng q ui e tly, taking a fair advantage of the temporary cessation of export and demand, and the trivial depression of prices in conse quence, to lay by in anticipation of the spring trade. CHRONICLE.—The late reports respecting the defi ciency of the present crops of cotton in the United States, are now considered to be fully confirmed by th e t enour o f the latest advices from the Southern States. There is no doubt the deficiency will be fully 250,000 bales, as compared with the crop of the year 1537 ; this falling off in the growth of cotton being attributed to the excessive drought which pre_ vailel throughout the Union during the past summer, and likewise to a much more extensive cultivation of corn, We understand that a letter from one very eminent house in New Orleans was received by the packet ship United States, countermanding the sales of their very large stock of cotton in the hands of agents in Liverpool, from a conviction, it is said, founded upon an extensive knowledge of the cotton growing districts, that the price of the material will be considerably higher in the month of January than at the present time. IIERALD.—It is pretty well understood that not only the joint-stock but the country private banks, within the past week or so (particularly), have been edging themselves against any sudden changes in the Maley Market, such as those which may be brought about by political events, or their influence upon the future proceedings of the Bank of England direction. The continued and increased business which prevails in the market value of Bank Stock arises from the fact that many country bankers, either'for themselves or the account:of their clients, during the past week have effected large sales of Bank Stock. MORNING POST.—Rumour3 were prevalent to.day in the City that there will shortly be a partial change in the Ministry; it is supposed Lord John Russell will at any rate, temporarily, quite public life, in consequence of his late very severe domestic calamity. This circumstance, coupled with the present state of our foreign and colonial policy, has caused continued heaviness in the public securities. THE STEAM-SHIP LIVERPOOL. (From the Liverpool Correspondent of the Morning Post.) LIVERPOOL, Nov. 3.—Her stock of fuel is now composed of 640 tons of coal, 490 of which are the best Welsh, and the remaining 150 are those which she had on board when she sailed hence, so that her stock of fuel now is greater by 70 tons than when she made the first attempt, without taking into consideration that the Welsh coal will go much further than that which she took from here. She is intended to sail positively this day from Cove, and in addition to her having on board Mr. Shaw, the gentleman who accompanied the Royal 'William on her first trip, an eminent engineer is also to go with her, so that any defects in her machinery may be remedied on her arrival at her desti nation. (From the Dublin Correspondent of the Morning Post.) The Liverpool steamer, which put into Cove from stress of weather and supposed want of fuel, starts 'again this evening ( Friday), at five o'clock, for New York. There were upwards of 330 tons of coals on board, of which the engineers were ignorant I M r . Shaw, the ma r i n e manager of the Company, proceeded from Liverpool on hearing of the untoward delay, and sails with her. He offered any of the passengers their money if they chose to go on shore and proceed by another vessel; but all remained, fully sat;.?fied of the vessel's capabi lities and of the skill of Captain Fayrer, !be Commander. TO TIIE EDITOR 01 , THE ATIIENRUAIr. Sir,—Having been a passenger on board the Liverpool steamer during her late unfortunate expedition westward, _iin and main, ain, and knowing the interest you have mauifesteu the great scheme of Atlantic steam navigation, i offer_ no apo logy for communicating, immediately on my arrival here this morning, a few of the leading particulars : We left port on Saturday, the 20th—more than fifty pas- The weather w as t h en continue so. The sea had r un hi g h f or fair, sengehrostodnidbonaortdl—onign highspiri.ts. some days before, in consequence of long-p reva ili ng v i o l ent west winds : it soon became a serious obstacle to our progress. Bad weather came on, rains and squalls. Still the boat .went on bravely. At times the sea, which grew worse and worse, broke over her fore and aft, sweeping all before it, and giving her not unfrequently tremendous dead digs, which, as we lay in our berths at midnight—or tried to lie —seemed absolutely to take up the ship and give her a shaking as a dog does a rat. During this time it appears some damage was done. Some small leakages were sprung about the upper part of the vessel, such as might be expected in a new one under such circumstances, causing a little transient alarm, but probably without much reason. The fore-cabin suffered severely ;at one time the water, as I now hear, was some inches deep there. I also understand that the cargo, to the amount of 150 tons, appears to be damaged throughout. An accident at one time happened to the machinery, which occasioned a suspen sion of operations for some hours. Still we pushed on, not much exhilirated by such a beginning, but yet more and more convinced of the staunch qualities of the Liverpool as a sea boat, and moreover satisfied with the behaviour and manage ment of the Captain and all the Officers on board. Thus mat ters stood, when we were suddenly notified of the captain's resolution to turn back ; a great sensation arose of course—a council was called —every cabin and berth turned out their cadaverous-looking tenants, sea-sick, sleepy, and all. It seemed that the engineer had sent in a written. report of the state of the fuel, from which it appeared, on a comparison of quantities and distances, that there was not enough on board to carry us through the voyage, and that consequently we must seek absolute safety in retreat. To this nothing could be said : we acquiesced with the best grace we could. At the end of between nine hundred and a thousand miles, on the expiration of the sixth day, we turned round and went before the gale, the ship dashing through the surge with an eager ness which seemed to say that no time was now to be And now, you will ask what was the cause of this culty ? Want of coals, and nothing else. The shipa fine sea craft—nothing can be said against her—s as wood and i ron cou ld make her. Th e Co Imem his subordinat es , did t h e i r d uty lik e o ld sailors —nothing that s l 4lll or science co u ld d o was o mitted. Our progress, in point s - 4f fact, was sati s f ac t or y. In the worst weather , he iisde is with raginger, and all . _ • S • • •••- • seas i the wind against us, all but a few hours, and ge yally; , .. ....! I amonnting to little short of a gale, we yet made at the ate of ."=\'' more than 150 miles a day —something like 61 miles th 'Byer-, \ '' ' * ' Even at this rate we anticipated completing the voy4t e te. k .,;'' s fe most, in about twenty-one days, more probably in eight .-L... , ' t_.- But this was not to be done without coals ; and, the calcdlW ( 1 Lis tion seemed to be, that having started with a b out 5 64 tons, - I including 100 of William's resined and condensed pest s , called " patent fuel," we had already consumed something like half of our stock, which proved that, instead of 564 tons, 800 would be the minimum of the quantity required to carry us through. This extraordinary consumption' will excite surprise. The explanation of the ship's going to sea, pro vided as she was with such a consuming power, will be called for. This question we have looked into as well as we could, having examined the papers and all the officers from whom information was to be had, and that information being freely given. It would appear that the ship was not sufficiently tried before starting. She went to Dublin, but that was no trial at all. More than this, it comes out that a very material alteration was made in a part of the machinery, after the Dublin trip, and without super-adding the least pretence of an experiment thereon, by which the consumption of coal was increased nearly 700 lbs. the hour. Other dis c l osures I m i g h t add, but I have said sufficient till an answer appears to ex plain this. The return voyage to Cork was made in three days. The vessel showed great powers of speed as well as strength. The passengers held several meetings d ur i ng t hi s time. A Committee was appointed for thorough investiga tion, consisting of nine members—English, American, and ethers. From this committee we had a deliberate report of facts, which you will, I presume, see in due time. It was adopted without a single dissenting voice. Summarily, it lays the blame of the failure exclusively on the negligence of the Company's agent, acquitting all other parties, including the boat herself. At the same time it strenuously enforces the position, that this disaster in reality offers not the slightest argument against Atlantic steam navigation, though it is much to be feared that discouragement will ensue to many minds in consequence of the failure. This consideration weighs heavily with the passengers, who are mostly commer cial men. Of course there will be a panic in the United States when the vessel becomes overdue there ; and the suffering of the numerous relatives of those on board, for perhaps six or eight weeks, can be easily conceived. My purpose has been merely to give you a statement of the facts which have led to the failure.—Cork, Oct. 30, 1838. THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. (Continued from The Sun of Saturday.) In cursorily noticing the Municipal Election news brought this morning by the country Papers, it may not be, perhaps, wholly unnecessary to premise, that the published reports from the provinces, purporting to contain the results respectively of the elections, are much less close and conclusive to the reader remote from the spot to which they refer, than is desirable, from the fact of the names only, in the great majority of the cases, being given without any advertence whatever to the po litical opinions held by the parties. The omission we refer to, obviously natural enough inEour contemporaries, renders to us many of their reports utterly useless, and more or less im pairs the interest of most of the others. For instance, all the information on the subject, conveyed to the distant readers by the North Derbyshire Chronicle, is comprised in the follow ing nomenclature : ELECTION OF TOWN COUNCILLORS.-Mr. Daniel, Mr. W. Hopkinson, Mr. G. Mugliston, and Mr. W. Hewitt, were elected Councilmen for this borough on Thursday last. The number of votes for each was as follows Mr. Daniel Mr. W. Hopkinson llB Mr. G. Mugliston Mr. W. Hewitt: lO4 LEICESTER. In St. Margaret's Ward a most disgraceful opposition was got up by the Tories, which ended in as disgraceful a defeat. Parties in this Ward are nearly balanced. In the other Wards a brisk contest appears to have occurred, with results not greatly dissimilar to that in St. Margaret's. SALISBURY. The Tories boast of a decided triumph here. BRIDPORT. Here the Liberal party have succeeded in returning all their candidates. The return in the South Ward was very keenly contested. TIVERTON. A contemporary says the elections have not at all satisfied the thinking part of the burgesses. Voting by papers is found to be a much worse plan than viva voce voting. LANCASTER. In this borough the Tories were defeated. They were tardy in screwing up their courage to take the field ; and no sooner did they achieve that point than they were driven before the Liberal forces. SUNDERLAND. With two exceptions only every thing there has proceeded satisfactorily. The Sunderland Herald says :—" With pleasure unfeigned we congratulate the great body of the rate payers of this borough, on the triumphant style in which they have wiped off the foul aspersion that factious and designing men dared to cast upon—not their honour and probity, which are unimpeachable—but on their common sense, in publishing it as a possibility, that they could so far stultify themselves as to elect for their municipal representatives men pledged to the destruction' of municipal institutions —men, all their lives long the sworn foes to freedom, but who have recently, for party purposes, chosen to parade themselves as patriots I Again do we most heartily congratulate the Liberals of Sun derland on the success of yesterday. Their opponents chose their own ground, plotted in the swept and garnished office all the :capital manoeuvres that were to render resistance impos sible ; but, woe to Toryism I the rate-payers have swept away with a vengeance, the spiders and their webbF. BRISTOL. The Tories, it is true, have triumphed. But their is nothing in the circumstances of this defeat of the Liberals to disgrace or discourage the party ; and the fact that the same constituency which has now returned three Tories, returned fonr Liberals last year, is an indirect evidence no less of this than of the means employed to procure the reverse. The Mercury J observes :—" Defeated, in the first in stance, by the treachery of a professing Whig, and in the second by a deliberate violation of the law, the Liberal party, entitled as they morally are to nominate the aldermen, are again prevented from exercising that right for the protection of the purses of their fellow-citizens : but, defeated though they have been, there is no disgrace in that defeat, when the means resorted to by the nominal victors in the struggle for power are duly cousidered." DEVONSHIRE. The Western Times states:—" The Municipal Elections for the county have terminated, and, as far as we can yet learn, in favour of the Liberal party. In Exeter we stand, in point of relative strength, as we were. In the County Boroughs the results are generally satisfactory. KENDAL. The result of the election in this town is satisfactory to the Mercury, a Liberal Paper, in which it is stated that a more judicious selection could not have been made. WARWICK. The election here - ended in the return of only two' Libe rals and four Tories, for the six Liberals who had quitted office. We need hardly observe that this result was hailed by the Tories as a signal triumph. Had they succeeded in returning the six, as they certainly expected, they would just have turned the scale in the Council. The Warwick Advertiser states that the majority in the Corporation, how ever, is still in favour of the Liberals. FALMOUTH. Some Conservatives were let in. H ELSTON. Here a political struggle took place, four names being put up on either side. At the close, the number stood—Conser vatives, Messrs. John Kendall, jun. 104, Wm. Penbertby 98, Ralph Michell 7.5, Thomas Harvey 73—Radicals, Mr. John Ellis 68, George Cunnack 60, J. M. Read 45, Thos. Rogers, late Alderman, 44. These four are Reformers. CARLISLE. Ti election of Town Councillors took place on Thursday last, when, with the exception of Mr. R an dles on , grocer , i n the place of ,'lr. Robson, stonemas o n, th e w h o l e o f t h e o ld Councillors were re-elected. . CHESTER. In this city the newly-c.lected Councillors are Reformers, with the exception of one. SHREWS6VRY. The Tories have gained one vote in this borough ; leaving the numbers on the present Council—Reformers 25, Tories 15. This leaves parties (as we stated on Saturday) just where they were before. WORCESTER. The election here, according to the local _Herald, excited no interest. Beyond the fact that the electoral body were apathetic, our Contemporay conveys to us no available intelligence. MONMOUTH.- The Merlin states that in one of the wzrds there Was a sharp contest, but of the politics of the candidalea either in his ward or the others no mention is made. DEVONPORT. The election of Councillors, in the room of those going out in rotation, took place on Thurs d day la so st. Thero e was but little excitement on the occasion, an in me of th wards no opposition. DOVER. The Liberals beat the Tories hollow in this borough. THE. Here also was another ph for the cause of good go.. We learn by the. ] over Chronicle that the Tories vhearvnembeenetn. completely defeated, notwithstanding the iniqui tous practices to whit hF Th e men of Kent are showing that they are alive to the call of duty aga in. At Folkest one the Liberal cause was toheLyKressoTrotedN. . E completely triumphant. CARNARVON.—The Tories here, it appears by the Carner.. von pp e prete nc es; e e o r e Hera, / ;e d , buta r h n have eo r b ny e tw e h n dealing were scarcely went off i ey ntheir ff aware ol v very y d wares s nch aquietlyn and i mthpaot r f t ale the t In thre event as the election having taken place. withoute ewardseeaid considerable t d h i e ffi fi e v u e it th e Tories SOUTHAMPTON contrived, but not '—Yt and by trifling majorities, to squeeze in their creatures, were !ling fair runs. ,13 1156 Ls.o l. 1. 58 ' 10 rEO' at t" , A lot p lie IA t e 10 g r i t et s ,, !ei°g!' obl lc P at b g 0 1, ' A 'Av ,•11P' II ..1‘ ,er Pl; a 6v 4 : r et , e ,sr Ceti